To communicate to BLE dongle, please

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Anonymous
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Hi,

   

Since CySmart is not open source, the only way to get data through BLE dongle is serial port communication; we got programmer to burn .hex file, however not sure about what kind of IDE and source firmware of the dongle.

   

In order to get data in PC through the dongle, could anyone tell me how should I write/modify my own firmware? In what IDE and how to find the firmware source?

   

Thank you!

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1 Solution

I just verified: when I connect the BLE dongle, it is regocnized as KitProg programmer. It can be selected in Creator ('Debug/Select Debug Target'). But I was wrong on the PSoC BLE - its actually a PRoC BLE, and gets reported as CYBL10162-56LQXI. If it doesn't show up, maybe you need to update the KitProg firmware using the PSoC Programmer. The BLE Pioneer Kit user guide explains this procedure, please follow the steps carefully (its a little bit tricky).

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18 Replies
Bob_Marlowe
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There is the (free) Cypress Creator IDE which you can use to configure the PSoC, write your firmware and program all into the PSo<c's flash.

   

 

   

Bob

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi Bob,

   

I installed all of the PSoC Creator, programmer, and CySmart. PSoC Creator is to program the BLE pioneer baseboard, and CySmart is to get data from the BLE dongle, however CySmart is not open source, and I have no idea how does the CySmart connect with the dongle.

   

It seems like there is no way to connect with the dongle outside CySmart, which means there is no way to process the data from the dongle in PC.

   

I am trying to communicate with the dongle through serial port, however have no idea how to talk; so if I can re-program the dongle, instead of the BLE pioneer baseboard, maybe I could find a way out. But how?

   

From the link you give me, I can only use CySmart to get data from the dongle , instead of program it, not to mention the source firmware of that dongle.

   

Could you please tell me, how could I communicate with the dongle outside CySmart so that I can process the data from the dongle in PC?

   

Thank you!

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HeLi_263931
Level 8
Level 8
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On the BLE Dongle, there is just another PSoC BLE chip. So you can program it just like the BLE Pioneer board. When you do so, you are free to choose the communication protocol to your host application.

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Anonymous
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Hi hli,

   

Actually I cannot. PSoC Creator cannot even find the dongle as a target to connect, and of course, I have no idea what else IDE I can use to program the dongle, not to mention I  do not have the original firmware.

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I just verified: when I connect the BLE dongle, it is regocnized as KitProg programmer. It can be selected in Creator ('Debug/Select Debug Target'). But I was wrong on the PSoC BLE - its actually a PRoC BLE, and gets reported as CYBL10162-56LQXI. If it doesn't show up, maybe you need to update the KitProg firmware using the PSoC Programmer. The BLE Pioneer Kit user guide explains this procedure, please follow the steps carefully (its a little bit tricky).

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi hli,

   

I have no problem to program the dongle with .hex file release by PSoC Creator, and you are right that the dongle is PRoC instead of PSoC. However, only PSoC Programmer can recognize the dongle and program it with release .hex file; impossible to do it in PSoC Creator.

   

I did try select/debug target in PSoC Creator to find the dongle with updated firmware, which I am sure is the latest because I updated it before programming it, however the dongle just never show up in PSoC Creator.

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Bob_Marlowe
Level 10
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Connecting the PRoC dongle with your windows PC will download and install the required driver. Make sure you are running the latest Creator version (3.3 CP1) and have internet connection.

   

 

   

Bob

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi Bob,

   

I have no problem on the driver, and no problem to get data through the dongle in CySmart.

   

All I want to do is to get data outside CySmart, please.

   

Because I have tried all means to find Bluetooth adapter outside CySmart, but have no clue how to do it.

   

I opened serial port, with any baudrate(not sure what should I use), got nothing, and did not know what to do.

   

Please tell me something.

   

Thank you!

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Bob_Marlowe
Level 10
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Hli told you exactly what to do and my last post was targeted to the same solution:

   

Reprogram the PRoC dongle using Creator to exactly do what you want to. The dongle-board has got a snap-off Kitprog which you may use for communication using an USB-UART bridge. Apart from programming and debugging a com-port will be emulated on the PC-side.

   

So you will have to concentrate on getting the PRoC-dongle to Creator. Look into the actual manuals for how to.

   

 

   

Bob

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi Bob,

   

Thank you for your reply.

   

I understand that there is in circuit programmer on the dongle that I can re-program it like the pioneer baseboard; and since PSoC Creator cannot detect the dongle as a target to debug, I also know that PSoC programmer is the way to burn ".hex" file into the dongle after compiling/building in PSoC Creator. 

   

Hli did tell me a way to go, and there is nothing wrong with your solution.

   

But, if it is as simple as saying it out, I would not be asking a question here.

   

As a newbie on both PSoC and BLE application, I am not able to program a firmware of that dongle from zero (firmware of that dongle is not open source, cannot find it). Not to mention the difficulty on the emulation of USB_UART of BLE control after it, assuming you could teach me how to program the firmware of the dongle based on the source code.

   

Could you please teach me something? Cause I do not even know which mauals you are referring to.

   

I finished 

   

CY8CKIT-042 BLE Kit Guide.pdf

   

 CY8CKIT-042 BLE Quick Start Guide.pdf

   

AN91267 - Getting Started with PSoC® 4 BLE

   

AN91162 - Creating a BLE Custom Profile

   

AN91184 - PSoC 4 BLE - Designing BLE Applications

   

CySmart – Bluetooth® LE Test and Debug Tool

   

all of them are talking about inside CySmart, nothing outside.

   

 

   

Please tell me something.

   

Thank you!

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I installed the BLE Pioneer Kit software package, and I have a BLE dongle example file in this location:

   

C:\Program Files\Cypress\CY8CKIT-042-BLE Kit\1.0\Firmware\BLE Dongle\BLE_Dongle_CySmart\BLE_Dongle_CySmart.cydsn\

   

Its one of the demo files that is explained in the BLE Pioneer kit user guide. The comment at the top of main.c says its using a custom UART protocol to talk with the CySmart application.

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Anonymous
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Hi Hli,

   

Thank you for telling me about that example, which should be exactly what I need, and I was excited about it.

   

I have been working on the Dongle CySmart example for a week. Based on my understanding, the dongle is controlled by CySmart through UART with command packets, and an invalid command packet should active an error/invalid status response. 

   

I thought it is possible to talk to the dongle with a correct method the package my commands via Serial Port. However, when I tried to open a putty terminal to talk to the dongle via Serial Port, neither does an error status response appear, nor can I even type in anything; and if I try it in Qt to talk to the dongle through a terminal, even if the serialWrite() command does happen, serialReadReady() was never triggered. 

   

Could you please help me figure it out?

   

Thank you!

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Since the communication uses binary codes Putty is propably not the right tool. Maybe use RealTerm, IIRC it has a mode the send and receive binary data. And I think you need to send the correct data to the the dongle to answer. Maybe there is some command sequence to get a version number?

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Anonymous
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Hi hli,

   

So happy I got a response from the dongle.

   

Thank you!

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Bob_Marlowe
Level 10
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BLE is sometimes a bit complicated, Start here to learn what you can do with BLE.

   

The idea behind PSoCs you will learn best by following some videos, they show the use of the IDE.

   

 

   

Bob

Anonymous
Not applicable

Thank you, Bob, and Hli!

   

Those are very nice projects, very nice product, and ideas about PSoC. Only thing that may not be nice enough should be me, myself.

   

Probably I am too early to do a project like this.

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Bob_Marlowe
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Only the early bird catches the worm....

   

 

   

Bob

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Anonymous
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Hi Bob,

   

Thank you for replying!

   

So happy I got a response from the dongle.

   

 

   

Thank you!

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